Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 337 Ignition
It is now early July, and Lujiawan is celebrating two joyous occasions.

The first thing, needless to say, is the official release of the book "First Aid Manual" "edited" by Teacher Chen. Before the book even reached Xinhua Bookstore, hundreds of copies were pre-ordered by various organizations. Including individual purchases, it set a sales record for Xinhua Bookstore in Nanhu Commune, even surpassing the sales of the last three issues of "Jiangnan Literature and Art".

Of course, it refers to single-period sales records.

If we consider total sales volume, then "Jiangnan Literature and Art" will definitely win.

The high sales of the May, June, and July issues of "Jiangnan Literature" magazine are also inseparable from Chen Fan's efforts.

Because it contains Teacher Chen's article, "On the Fields of Hope"!

In particular, cadres from various units who had previously worked in production teams felt that the protagonists written by Teacher Chen reflected their own experiences and bought copies to give as gifts.

The cultural offices of various units also eagerly purchased supplies to show their support for the stationed work and to boast about their achievements, but even this was not as valuable as a "First Aid Manual".

All I can say is that people today have a really strong sense of collective honor.

The biggest beneficiary was naturally Lujiawan, which "nurtured" Chen Fan.

Lujiawan quickly became famous throughout Gufeng County, not to mention Nanhu Commune. Various units in the commune sent invitations to the brigade headquarters, wanting to invite Chen Fan to give lectures, and even some from the county.

Let Chen Fan tell them about his mindset and spirit that led him to develop the "airway foreign body removal method," and what ideas inspired him to compile a first aid manual to serve the public and contribute to society!
Chen Fan declined all offers, but strongly recommended Zhang Wenliang and Zhang Juemin to perform.

He was mainly afraid of trouble and didn't want to be in the limelight. He just wanted to live a peaceful and carefree life.

After a brief discussion, the four leaders of the brigade headquarters unanimously agreed.

They were also afraid that once Chen Fan went out, he would be lured away by another organization.

Although Chen Fan firmly rejected the invitation from the prefectural health department, what if a county-level unit offered better terms?
For example, in the past, housing was allocated, and benefits were given according to the cadre's rank; they might even be given a wife.

No matter how pretty the girls in Lujiawan are, they're still just village girls. How can they compare to the educated people in the city? When both husband and wife get paid, and they become a dual-cadre family, wouldn't that be better than living in Lujiawan?!
Therefore, they firmly supported Chen Fan's idea, and no matter which organization invited them, they would just laugh it off.

He accepts praise and gifts without hesitation, but he refuses to give anything to those he asks for!
After much back and forth, the relevant units finally had no choice but to agree to let Zhang Wenliang and Zhang Juemin take charge.

Anyway, they all appear in books, and there are even real-life demonstrations. With them around, their persuasiveness is in no way inferior to Chen Fan's.

Furthermore, the prefectural committee's health department issued a reward for this incident, with all relevant personnel at various levels receiving awards. Zhang Juemin's benefit was being specially promoted by the Nanhu Health Center, becoming a proud full-time employee.

Taking into account his ten years of experience as a barefoot doctor, he was given a salary of 56 yuan for level 4.

It is considered to be of an above-average level within the entire health center.

Because there are very few cadres in the health center, and they are mostly workers, it is already quite good if you can make it to level four.

Before 68, vocational school and university graduates were mainly assigned according to demand; they were assigned to wherever they were needed.

In this situation, units in large cities and key large-scale projects naturally have an advantage, and in order to attract talent, all the major units are offering the most favorable conditions. What is a mere cadre position worth?!

This is also the origin of the saying that college students become cadres as soon as they "go out" of school, and it later became a common practice.

However, it does not mean that there is a rule that vocational school and university graduates must be appointed as cadres.

After the resumption of the college entrance examination, these graduates were assigned jobs in the same way, which led to the "golden decade" for vocational school graduates.

Think about it, both of you graduated from junior high school. One of you only needs to study for another three or four years to become a manager in your workplace, while the other needs to study for another six to eight years to become a manager in your workplace. Moreover, everyone's salary standards will be about the same at that time. Which one would you choose?
However, in 68, the higher authorities issued a notice, in which two points were very crucial.

First, regarding the job assignment of graduates, we must completely break the old system that allowed college graduates to be assigned as cadres but not as workers or farmers.

What do you mean?
Graduates during this period are not going to become cadres immediately; they must start as farmers or workers!
Secondly, the allocation of graduates must adhere to the principle of being geared towards rural areas, border regions, industrial and mining areas, and grassroots communities, and integrating with the workers and peasants.

In other words, those who previously held a priority in choosing employers based in large cities or on large projects will no longer have that advantage.

How exactly the graduates are divided depends on where they come from.

If you live in a big city, you can stay. But if you live in a small place, especially a rural area, the best place to go is the local county town!

But who would want to go to the commune or the production team?

Even if they stayed in the county town, they still had to frequently go to the countryside for medical rounds. Ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent of them wanted to stay in the county town.

Therefore, there were really few talented people in the commune health centers below. With so few talented people, there were naturally few people with high salaries, so it's not surprising that Zhang Juemin was able to occupy a middle to upper position.

Moreover, the health center was happy to let Zhang Juemin and Zhang Wenliang go out together.

Zhang Juemin is already a staff member of the health center, which will also bring honor to the commune's health center.

Zhang Wenliang and Zhang Juemin worked tirelessly, moving from one unit to another in the Nanhu Commune, experiencing both pain and joy as they strived to bring glory to Lujiawan.

This became the first happy event in Lujiawan. The second happy event was that the brick kiln, which had been delayed for a month, finally started construction.

Once the brick kiln is built, bricks for building the small water tower can be fired, and then construction of the small water tower can begin smoothly. Soon we will have running water, wouldn't that be wonderful news?!

Chen Fan leisurely sat in the makeshift thatched shed, holding a teapot, directing the construction of the brick kiln. "Brick firing is a technical job, but the technical content is just so-so, not complicated. You can learn it after watching it once."

As he spoke, he put down the teapot, stood up, and walked out. Huang Ying immediately handed him a straw hat.

He casually took it and placed it on his head, put his hands on his hips, and shouted, "The double harvest is in a few days. We need to get the bricks fired before the double harvest. The brigade headquarters said I don't need to teach them the technique. What a load of rubbish! Any normal person can learn this after being taught it once."

Someone nearby immediately shouted, "Teacher Chen, so you're saying you're going to teach us how to make bricks?"

Chen Fan turned his head and laughed, "Master Peng, you're here too?"

It turned out to be Lao Peng, a retired hunter from Team 9.

Old Peng immediately shouted, "We also want to see the small water tower as soon as possible!"

Even before the rainy season was over, each team organized people to come here to collect soil and make brick blanks. The brick blanks were placed wherever there was free time in the whole brigade. By the time the rainy season ended, the brick blanks had already been made, and the number was more than enough.

Then, taking advantage of the bright sunshine, they were dragged to the threshing floor to dry. Only after they were completely dry a couple of days ago were they brought here to prepare for firing.

Air dry in the shade first, then air dry; this will prevent cracks from forming.

Everyone had come specifically for the tap water, but when Chen Fan said he could teach them how to make bricks, they were overjoyed.

If you can learn how to make bricks, even if you can't make bricks to sell, it would be good to make them for your own use.

If given the choice, who wouldn't want to live in a brick house?
However, the biggest expense for a brick house is the bricks. A red brick costs 3 cents. To build a house of 6 or 70 square meters, you need at least 10000 bricks, which is more than 300 yuan. If you build a larger one, it will be even more expensive.

If we make our own bricks and build our own house, wouldn't we save that money?!

Chen Fan was willing to teach them because the technique was indeed very easy. He didn't expect to make money from it, so he might as well be generous and teach them directly. On the one hand, he wouldn't need to personally handle the brick-making process later, which would save him trouble. On the other hand, he would also do them a favor, which would be like earning money twice.

Chen Fan looked at the crowd around him and said with a smile, "This thing is really not difficult. I'll teach you how to build two brick kilns later, and then you'll know how."

Then, pointing to the neatly stacked brick wall not far away, he said, "Children, don't play in there. If you have energy to spare, go and move some bricks."

Immediately, shouts from adults and laughter from children could be heard, followed by piercing cries.

Chen Fan remained unmoved and strode down the slope.

Several groups of people are working hard to shovel the soil here.

Chen Fan checked it and said, "Just level the ground. Don't dig too deep, or it will get damp. Just dig it close enough."

Then they clapped their hands and said, "Bring the brick blanks, let's build the brick kiln first."

Someone nearby asked, "Are you building a brick kiln using unfinished bricks?"

Chen Fan said, "I would like to build it with bricks, but I don't have any. Let's start with something simple."

He paused for a moment, then said loudly, "If you want to make bricks yourselves in the future, this is the simplest way, even simpler than my pottery making. Now listen to my instructions, watch carefully, after today, you will have to make your own bricks."

A thunderous shout erupted from the surrounding crowd: "Good!"

Then a group of people quickly surrounded them.

Everyone was very conscientious, and each team sent out a few representatives, quickly forming a group of thirty or forty people around him.

Chen Fan also became serious at this moment. He picked up a brick blank and gave instructions while demonstrating, "First, use the mud bricks to make a circle to enclose this area. Don't enclose it too high, because you will be laying bricks inside."

Then add coal briquettes layer by layer, and bricks layer by layer. The amount of coal briquettes and firewood must be just right. Too much will result in too much heat, and the bricks will easily become heavy and hard 'iron bricks,' which will deform and become unusable. Too little will result in too little heat, and the bricks will not be able to solidify properly and will crumble when squeezed.

Leave several openings below, firstly to make it easier for people to move the equipment, and secondly to allow for the circulation of heat. These will be used during the later firing process…

This brick kiln is quite different from the small earthen kiln Chen Fan used to use. It is many times larger in area and volume. If he were to bring Jiang Lili and the others to work on it, it might not be completed in 10 days.

However, the advantage of the production team is that there are many people and great strength. As long as an order is given, there will naturally be plenty of people to mobilize.

With the joint efforts of so many people, a brick kiln, about 10 meters in diameter and 5 or 6 meters high, resembling half a sphere, was built in less than half a day.

(Self-built brick kiln in rural areas)
One brick kiln was definitely not enough, so everyone immediately started building a second one.

With the experience gained the first time, everyone became more skilled and their speed increased significantly.

The second brick kiln was built in even less time than before.

Then Chen Fan began to give instructions, "Firewood must be filled into each of the reserved holes. I will count to three, and everyone will light the fire together."

Chen Fan raised his right hand high, as if launching a rocket, and shouted, "3, 2, 1, ignition!"

(End of this chapter)